This blog will give details on the ER
visits and Vincent’s admission from January 3rd to the 10th. Vincent started feeling sick around December
16th. At which time he had gotten a small cold. When we left for
Sudbury he seemed to have been feeling better.
The only symptoms he had seemed to be teething. We decided to leave Sudbury a little earlier
to see if it will help Vincent feel better. On January 2nd, Vincent
had seemed to turn a little worse. His
cough was still bad and he had started to puke.
After doing a huge puke at bedtime, Pat and I decided to bring him in.
First ER visit:
When he arrived at CHEO, Vincent was
examined. They triaged him and then sent
him to the clinic room. There are two
CHEO waiting rooms. One is for the more
serious, the other is more of a clinic.
I had never seen CHEO ER so busy in my life. There must have been 25 kids in front of
him. We brought in Vincent’s iPad and
set him in his stroller. We got there
around 8:45pm and got into a room around midnight. Vincent was a very happy baby and only took a
20 minute nap during the whole wait. He would chat and smile to everyone in the
room. The doctor got to the room around
1:45am. Vincent was full of smiles and
chatting with the Dr. The Dr didn’t
think he was sick. He was shocked that
Vincent was happy when he saw he had a double ear infection, in which the right
ear was really bad. Vincent weighed 11.4
kg (25 lbs 2 oz) at this visit. He was
prescribed some amoxicillin and sent home.
Second ER visit:
On January 5th, Vincent
seemed to have started wheezing a bit in the morning. We went out for dinner that night and Vincent
ate like a pig. Around 9pm, Vincent’s
wheezing got bad. Papa didn’t seem
worried and wanted to wait the night.
Maman had a gut feeling that there was something wrong. After speaking with a few people, we decided
to bring him in. We arrived at CHEO at
10pm. When we got to CHEO, the evening turned a bit scary and Maman got worried. As soon as the triage nurse saw him, they
took him in the back right away. There were parents in the waiting room
complaining that Vincent went in front of them.
Vincent was still happy so they thought he only had a cold. His wheezing had gotten pretty bad. He didn’t have a fever. Which was confusing
the drs. We were told that Vincent was a
9 out of 12 on a breathing scale. 12
being the worse. Vincent was a lot worse
than I thought. Once in the room, they
set up Vincent for three Ventolin/oxygen treatments. This treatment was hell. Papa had to sit on the bed and hold Vincent
down. He yelled through the first
treatment. During the second treatment,
we figured Vincent just wanted to feel in charge so he calmed down once he
helped hold the oxygen mask. Once all the treatments were done it was around
11pm. At midnight, the nurse came to
give him four puffs of Ventolin through a puffer. The puffs would just help for 45 minutes which
isn’t long. He got another round of
puffs around 12:30am. Maman and Papa
were really tired, but Vincent was wired and we had been at the ER for almost
three hours. At 1:30am, they decided to
try epinephrine, also known as epipen.
They were hoping this would calm down the wheezing. Vincent had hit a plateau and his breathing
was a four out of 12. They gave him a good suction and it was really
thick. He was also puking a bit of
blood, but it was due to the tube scraping during the suction. At 2:30am, we
saw the doctor for the last time. He was
diagnosed with Bronchiolitis (Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection
in young children and infants. It causes inflammation and congestion in the
small airways (bronchioles) of the lung. Bronchiolitis is almost always caused
by a virus. Typically, the peak time for bronchiolitis is during the winter
months.). The good news is that his ears were starting to get
better. We were sent home at 3:20am with a puffer prescription. We were given it to see if it helps.
Third ER visit and admission:
Vincent was not getting any better on
January 7th. Maman was getting really
worried. She decided to call and leave a voicemail to the pediatric
clinic. Around 3:45pm, the nurse called
me. I explained everything that has been
happening. Vincent had cut his milk
intake to more than half. He was also
only eating one meal a day. The nurse
advised that Vincent was too sick to wait to get checked the next day and to
bring him to CHEO. She was also hearing
his wheezing through the phone. When we
got to CHEO (around 6pm), it was the same as the last ER visit. They triaged him and sent him in the
back. He had a fever of 38.3C, it might
not be high but its Vincent’s highest fever yet. And he had lost a bit of
weight. He was weighing 11.3 kg (24 lb
14 oz). He was an eight on the breathing
scale. He was given three Ventolin
breathing treatments, more puffs from puffers, and epinephrine. They were suctioning regularly and took a
sample to send to the lab. The lab would
check RSV, influenza A and B. The nurse
came in to do a spot check on oxygen.
She forgot to remove the sensor.
Vincent then fell asleep in Papa’s arms.
We then see a nurse run in our room.
Vincent’s oxygen had dipped in the 70’s.
Once he woke up his oxygen was back up.
The Dr came in to check him out again.
He confirmed that Vincent does have bronchiolitis and that he was on day
four. Day five is usually the worse day
which is worrying him. He decided to ask
the nurses to give him a good suction and then an epinephrine treatment. After the treatment, the nurse kept Vincent on
the monitor just to keep an eye on him.
His oxygen dropped again and needed constant oxygen. At this point we were still in the ER room. We were waiting to find out the next
plan. A few hours later, a nurse came in
to see if we knew the plan, it was almost 2am at this point. She ran out to get the supervisor Dr. The Dr came in to let us know that they were
admitting him, but there was no beds so we are stuck in ER until there is a
room available. Maman went home then
papa slept with Vincent in his arms as Vincent was traumatized by the crib.
Vincent was on 2L of oxygen. To be able
to go home, Vincent would need to go overnight with no oxygen.
At noon on January 8th, we
were advised they had a room for Vincent and it just needed to be cleaned. At 3:30pm they told us they needed to find
him a new room as he tested positive with RSV (Respiratory syncytial
virus (RSV) causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract. It's so
common that most children have been infected with the virus by age 2.
Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-ul) virus can also infect adults). When a baby has RSV they can only be placed
in a room with another baby with RSV that started around the same time. This was pretty complicated as the hospital
is full of kids sick with the same thing.
We finally got a room around 7pm.
It was a multiple baby room.
These rooms have room for 3 babies.
Vincent was the last baby to arrive in this room. When Vincent is admitted, Papa and Maman
follow a “switch” schedule that works for us.
Papa has an easier time putting Vincent down in the hospital therefore
he stays the nights. Maman does the
days. Around 10pm, Papa text me to
advise that the baby across from him was removed from the room as she tested
positive for MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become
resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections.). Maman was worried as this is pretty
serious. There was a higher isolation
put in on their room. This means that no
new babies can be put in the room. The
incubation for MRSA is 48 hours. Overnight,
Vincent slept in spurts of one to two hours at a time. Vincent was still on 2L of oxygen. He had got a saline breathing treatment
around 4am. The two babies in the room
kept waking each other up.
On January 9th, Vincent’s
nurse did a trial wean of oxygen. She
brought down his oxygen to 0.5L. Vincent
was getting frequent suctions. Every
nurse that suctioned him were shocked on how thick it was. Vincent’s appetite started coming back this
day. He ate his full breakfast and
finished maman’s. Vincent napped a
lot. He would be awake 45 minutes, then
sleep an hour. The only catch was that
he would just sleep in maman’s arms.
After lunch, the nurse thought Vincent’s colour was good and he was
cheery. She decided to drop his oxygen
to 0.25L. After his nap, Vincent played
on a mat that CHEO child life brought him.
He played on the ground for 20 minutes.
He jumped for at least 10 of those minutes. He over exerted himself needed a puff of
Ventolin. Vincent took a good nap after
playtime. He only woke up when he heard Papa come in the room. He ate a good chunk of his dinner, we then
gave him ice cream as a treat.
On January 10th, Vincent’s
oxygen was removed around midnight. He
was full of energy when he woke up. He
refused to be in my arms. His oxygen was
still really good. The doctors were
really happy with his progress. During
rounds, Vincent was playing happily in his crib, he was dancing and saying hi
to all the Drs that were doing rounds.
He did lose a good chunk of weight.
He weighed 10.9 kg at discharge.
Vincent was released around 12:45pm. He took a 3hr nap in the afternoon.
How did Maman feel?
Maman felt pretty hopeless seeing
Vincent sick. I couldn’t do anything to
make him feel better. I was worried as I
knew he was getting worse but all the Drs weren’t convinced at the beginning. When he was rushed in the back (especially
the first time), I was so concerned. I
was shocked when I saw how Vincent bounced back overnight. He was lethargic on day and then a lot better
the next.
How did Papa feel?
Papa was exhausted as Vincent would
refuse to sleep in the crib at the beginning.
He was also worried that we somehow did something to make Vincent
sick. Papa was appreciative for what
grandmaman and grandpapa Saumure went through when dealing with papa’s asthma
and allergies growing up. He was also
worried that Vincent wouldn’t get any better.
Papa was also as overwhelmed as maman with everything going on. Papa was so happy that Vincent slept in his
crib six hours straight the night of January 9th to 10th. When Vincent was home on the 10th,
Papa was happy that our life would get back to normal.
How is Vincent today:
Vincent was almost back to normal
today (January 12th). He had
a lot of energy, ate like a champ and was full of smiles. We could run errands
and he was happy riding around in his bike.
Vincent is back to trying to climb everything. Maman and Papa are happy to have our Vincent
back.
**Definitions are from
mayoclinic.org**
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